NYFW Models Are Now Doing Their Own Hair for the Runway

"It's all about empowerment."

Backstage at Misha Nonoo's New York Fashion Week show this Saturday, you won't see any models staring down at their iPhones or lost in the pages of a Dostoevsky novel as a hive of energy buzzes around them. They have a job to do—and this season, it's not just walking down the runway. Instead, all 22 women in Nonoo's show will be doing their own hair, rather than sitting by idly while a professional tames their tresses, per usual.

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The point isn't to make the models do more work, but to empower them, according to designer Nonoo, who hopes that it will in turn empower the women who wear her clothes. "It's very important to me then that my woman is able to feel that she can do her own hair," Nonoo told ELLE.com. "There's a sense of empowerment in giving women looks that I know they could use, function with, and really create themselves. That's what's so important about my collection as well—that people can take these pieces off the runway and really wear them and style them themselves."

Misha Nonoo at her New York Studio.

Katie Friedman

Nonoo often looks to art when creating her clothes. Last season she collaborated with Brooklyn artist Dustin Yellin, and for fall 2015, the British designer found inspiration in The Last Great Adventure Is You, a London-based exhibition of Tracey Emin's self-portraits.

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""We all doubt ourselves; we question ourselves all the time."

"It was this very beautiful show where she thought that if she could physically come to terms with what she looked like, then she'd be able to change her mental state as well," explains Nonoo. "We all doubt ourselves; we question ourselves all the time. It's very difficult being a woman with all the information that's thrown at us everyday, so I think that what she touched on makes a great deal of sense. And the epiphany of learning to love yourself and being really comfortable is so romantic, poetic, and beautiful."

This mindset translates directly to the self-styled hair envisioned by TRESemme leading stylist Ryan Trygstad, who will guide the models through the simple look, which consists of fewer than five steps. Trygstad will meet with each woman individually to explain how to create the textured low ponytail (inspired by his favorite '90s supers) using the TRESemme Perfectly (un)Done collection. The models will be able to personalize the look to best suit their face shape and with pins so they are not all "cookie-cutter versions of each other."

Model Claudia Todman at the pre-show hair test.

Katie Friedman

"I think they'll probably look cross-eyed at me for a minute, but they'll get into it."

The models are aware that they are going to be involved with the look, but they don't know all the details yet. "I think they'll probably look cross-eyed at me for minute, but they'll get into it," says Trygstad. "It will be fun for them because, you know, they're used to being pulled on and with this they get to actually touch themselves and feel the product—they usually don't get to do that."

Claudia Todman, the model used for the pre-show hair test, was surprised when she was told what was in store for her. "It's going to be quite amusing to watch all the models try to do their own hair," she says. "But they said it is pretty simple, so it should be good!"